Democracy on Trial
Subtitle: Social Movements and Cultural Politics in Post-Authoritarian Taiwan
Publisher: Chinese University Press, The; The Chinese University Press
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Number of pages: 270
ISBN-13: 9789629965464
Subjects: Democracy; Taiwan, politics and government
Description: Writing "an ethnography of democracy," Ya-Chung Chuang masterfully describes and analyzes a multifaceted Taiwanese society. Contradicting mainstream research on political cultures, which relies heavily on survey data and statistical analysis, Ya-Chung Chuang produces an anthropologically inspired, contextually rich study using original source materials. He traces a genealogy of pivotal concepts, such as sovereignty, identity, and locality, at the heart of Taiwan's democratic discourse and relates the experience of democracy as "a way of life" from the viewpoints of a variety of subjects, including social movement participants, urban community members, and ethnic activists. His book explores the loaded meaning of democracy.